


To Build-A-Bear

by AmarieMelody



Category: Batman (Comics), Ghost Rider (Comics)
Genre: Crossover Pairing, Domestic Fluff, Interracial Relationship, M/M, Male Character of Color, Racism against Latinx, Robbie Reyes & Jason Todd are dorks, Skunkstripe Bros, pure fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-06
Updated: 2015-01-06
Packaged: 2018-03-06 07:38:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3126365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmarieMelody/pseuds/AmarieMelody
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been a while since the boys have enjoyed a day out together. So Jason decides to fix this with a suggestion for all three of them to spend a day at Build-A-Bear. Fluffiness ensues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Build-A-Bear

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> The second RobJay one-shot I wrote for my beautiful LSR.

“…Build-A-Bear”, Robbie repeats dryly. 

“Yeah, Build-A-Bear.” Jason smirks and nods. 

Robbie hoists the laundry basket up on his hip. He stares at his boyfriend like he’s not quite able to see him clearly. He speaks slowly. “You want to take my brother and me…to Build-A-Bear. That’s what you want to do.” 

“Well yeah. But now-” Jason lifts both hands in a peaceful gesture “-not later on today, or even tomorrow. Just this weekend. You know, since sunshine’s been so good and we’ve both missed ea-”

“Gabe is always good and he always misses your pimp-drug-dealing ass. Try another.” Robbie’s voice is even drier than before as he starts placing the dirty clothes in the washing machine. 

Jason pretends to look affronted by the monikers. “Well, you know what? This pimp-drug-dealing boyfriend of yours don’t got anything else. I just wanna take the best kid in the world and the best boyfriend in the world out to a place they haven’t been. And I wanna do it this weekend, when I know that said boyfriend is off. That’s all I want. Help a man out?” 

Robbie closes his eyes and sighs through his nose. He carefully places a pair of pants around the agitator. “Jason, baby, it’s…that’s great. It is, but-”

Gabe’s excited voice sounds down the hall. “Jay! The commercials are almost done! Black Panther is coming back on! And I can smell the cookies, too!” 

Jason didn’t miss a beat, his deep timbre sounding through the apartment, “Yeah, buddy. I’m comin’, just hang on sec!” 

“Kee-hee-hee! Okay!” Gabe’s voice is as chipper as ever when he calls back. 

Jason turns back to Robbie. “Look, it’s fine. Just a little trip to Build-A-Bear, then maybe some lunch before or after. Just chill out, relax, enjoy the day, you know?” He puts on that pouting, imploring look and Robbie just sighs again. 

Robbie adds detergent to the clothing, then shuts the lid so they can wash. He sets the empty laundry basket atop the dryer and turn to fully face his boyfriend. “Jason, I need you to listen to me close, ‘kay? I’m gonna ask you a question and I need you to answer honestly, you with me?” 

“Yeah, I hear you, babe. Loud and clear.” Jason nods earnestly, though that pout doesn’t leave for a second.

“You sure? You sure you’re listening?” 

“Positive. Abso-fucking-lutely listening.” 

“Okay…good.” Robbie spreads his arms as wide as he can and stares the older man in the eye. “Do I _look_ like I got Build-A-Bear money?” 

Jason winces. “Babe, I-”

“The answer is ‘no’. ‘No, Robbie, you don’t look like you have Build-A-Bear money’. And that’s because I _don’t_ have that kind of money. Alright? I love my little brother with all my heart and more, but all big brother’s got is comic book money and action figure money. That’s it.” 

Jason nods. “I hear you, I do. But that’s why-”

“So you hear me and that’s the end of this-”

“-Gabe’s got a second big brother to help out with that shit.” Jason pulls out a huge roll of twenties that are nearly the size of his fist from his jeans pocket. “See? I already got this shit down pat.” 

Robbie just stares at the man in front of him. He doesn’t know if he’s closed mouth or open mouth, wide eyed or squinting. He just stares, going back and forth between Jason’s sweetly smiling face to the roll of money that’s most-definitely more than he makes in an entire month. His boyfriend proffers the roll to him and, numbly he takes it. Robbie’s callused thumb flips through the large roll. Inside is even worse-there are one-hundred dollar bills in there, too. None of the bills that he can see are wrinkled or even stained; they’re all crisp and fresh, like Jason got them out of one of those big crime bosses’ suitcases-

Big crime boss’ suitcase, indeed. 

Still looking at the roll, he quietly asks, “…From your usual?” 

His boyfriend’s voice is just as quiet, just as careful. “Yeah.” 

Drugs. Except Jason long ago took down the meth labs and crack houses and every other drug factory in-between that belonged to his business rivals. He took them down, then built them back up with his new protocols and demands. Good coin for his employees. Good, safe working conditions too. Better maintenance and controls so they could go 24/7, with literal eight-hour shifts for his employees. Extra pay for holidays and weekends. No selling to kids. No, no, no kids. 

Prostitution. Except Jason long ago took down all the brothels and strip clubs and gentlemen’s clubs that belonged to his business rivals. He took them down, then built them back up as women’s shelters, daycares, pre-schools and the like. He paid out of the ass to hire excellent, competent professionals to work with the women and children he liberated from the hellish world of sex trafficking. Psychologists, psychiatrists, sex therapists, child development experts, you name it, his boyfriend found them all over and paid them well. If he found that one of his employees abused those women and children…well, Robbie never heard what happened to them outside of their being replaced by the next week. 

Racketeering. Except Jason long ago took down the loan sharks and extorters and money launderers that belonged to his business rivals. He took them down, then built them back up as racketeers that only went after the powerful and the foolhardy, not the needy and the desperate. Soon, Jason had congressmen and police captains under his control. And he used most of the resources from them as extra protection and advancement for the women and children in his care. More money towards women shelters. Less money towards corporate lobbyists. Black baby killers disguised as police officers never heard from again.  
And Robbie…Robbie never really judged. Or at least, never judged so much that he wanted Jason out of their life. In the earlier days of their relationship-while they were still just really, really good friends-he’d been hesitant, but up front, with Robbie. He gave him the brief rundown of what he did for a living in Gotham, how he could always come over to L.A and not need any financial support from Robbie period. 

Robbie remembers that he was still when they had that conversation. So, so still. He remembers being so irrationally grateful that Jason revealed nothing that Robbie didn’t ask him to reveal and revealed everything that Robbie did ask him. Gabe was sound asleep in his room, and he struggled with the feeling of…not…having to protect his baby brother. 

Because even then, Jason didn’t feel like a threat. No, Jason felt like a man that was being open and earnest and everything in his body language said he was prepared to head out the door and never, ever come back if that’s what Robbie wanted, regardless of how much that would hurt. So Robbie stayed still and he demanded proof, right then and there. Jason told him he was going to his pocket just to pull out his phone. With slow movements, he put his phone on the table, opened up a file of pictures and slid the phone over to Robbie. The pictures were dated and…Robbie never forgot them. 

Ever. 

He never saw so many…happy, smiling black and brown babies and adults. Black and brown baby girls and women, especially. He flipped through the pictures, seeing them swinging on the swings, their mothers and older sisters pushing them. Reading books on a colorful, plush carpet, Jason sitting with two of them snuggled in his lap. Two of them using crutches to walk out of their rooms, smiling triumphantly. Four of them posing proudly on their graduation day, holding up each of their respective degrees. 

As Robbie scrolled through each picture, Jason quietly told him that each and every one of those girls and women came from sex trafficking, the streets, and/or an abusive home. They stayed for however long they wanted in the safe spaces he built for them, and he expended every resource at his disposal to pull as many strings for them as possible so they could advance into whatever preferred life they wanted. Each and every one of them reminded him of why he did the work that he did. Sometimes he would point out this little girl, named Lakeisha, who could paint shit that could make you cry. And that woman, Braelyn, graduated from culinary arts school two years ago, and now she’s happily living with her wife in Indiana. Jason joked that he used to be able to check in on his ladies’ progress, but now there are so many happy stories that he devotes most of the time he has to ensuring that the ladies who are struggling the most-with trauma, with disability, with anything at all-have the best care possible. 

Even if that means that he has to remain out of sight of them. Because, yeah, Jason knows he’s a white man. He ain’t no fool-he knows what white men have done and still do to black and brown women. He knows that sometimes the best thing he can do is work from the shadows and not show his face. 

Robbie told him he didn’t know he had such a white savior complex. He was surprised when Jason casually rebuked that. Naw, he said, he wasn’t a white savior. White saviors just get all in people’s business to make themselves feel better, then get out when shit gets too uncomfortable for them. Naw, he ain’t a white savior. He’s just a transporter, bodyguard, human resource manager and financial supporter for these women and girls. The real people doing the saving are the professionals that work tirelessly with those women and girls day in, day out, trying to help them get a better self, and a better life. They never gave up. And when they needed something more to help the girls-like, say, a good building for another abortion clinic-Jason got it for them within the year and footed the entire bill using his criminal empire. Always.

That’s all Jason was. ‘Cause he knew he couldn’t handle sitting in those pink wallpaper-covered walls of the counseling areas of those shelters. Couldn’t handle hearing all the horrifying accounts of what these women and girls went through before they were taken under Red Hood’s impenetrable safety network. 

No, Jason knows he couldn’t handle it. Put a fist through the wall and empty a fresh round of clips into the corpses of the bastards he already put six feet under. And that’s not what any of those women and girls need. They need compassion, not anger. 

Naw, white savior isn’t his style. 

Robbie believed him; Eli was quietly approving and smelling truth all over the place. 

So now Robbie holds this wad of cash in his hands and he knows where it comes from. He knows what it means. And he’s accepted it. 

And, really what’s the harm? Neither he nor Gabe have ever been to Build-A-Bear and…damn. Gabe will love it. Probably end up making ten of those sucker stuffed animals. 

He holds up the money, giving his boyfriend a dry smirk. “Build-A-Bear this weekend. Yeah, sure. Why the hell not.” 

Jason’s face lights up more than a Christmas tree. “Great. Good. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a Black Panther episode to watch and cookies in the oven to check.” 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Saturday comes faster than ever. 

“Robbie! Jay! Look, look! There’s an Optimus Prime doll! And a Fluttershy!” 

“Oh yeah? We gotta check more out, sunshine!” Jason reaches over the handles of the wheelchair to lightly ruffle Gabe’s dark brown hair. 

Robbie smiles and agrees, “Yeah, we’re not a budget here, kiddo. The store’s not open all day, but we’re going hog wild for once, yeah?” 

Gabe’s face makes Robbie and Jason’s souls shoot through the roof, past the sky and to the stars galaxies and galaxies above. 

To say that Gabe is ecstatic is to say that it’s a bright, sunny day…it is to say an understatement. 

Robbie’s little brother is all but vibrating with happiness in his wheelchair. His head is snapping to and fro, looking all over the bright colored-themed, cheerfully lit store as Jason pushes him around to browse.  
Jason stayed with them all throughout the week, adding to both of their overall happiness. Dinnertime was good, cuddle time was good, and _sex_ was good. So, so good. All of it. It helps Robbie’s mood now. 

It’s certainly been a bonus for Gabe. 

Robbie is doing his best to hide his nervousness for the sake of his younger brother’s enjoyment. But they’re on the other side of town, in whitey ass town. And he’s not taking any bleach to his or his brother’s skin in a minute. He sure as fuck refuses to feel self-conscious about Gabe’s obvious disability; he never has and he’s not starting that in a minute either. 

He calculates carefully between eye contact and no eye contact. He knows how this works. Too much eye contact and he doesn’t know his place, he’s going to see mothers pulling their little blonde haired-blue eyed children closer, grown white men older than Jason quietly wondering what the hell a darkie from across the border is doing in their backyard. Too little eye contact and he’s only in here to shoplift.  
So he gives just the right amount and at least there’s no one ordering him to strip in case he’s in possession of cocaine. 

Jason…Jason makes him feel like such a child sometimes, rather than a boy-quickly-turned-man. Because Robbie wants to hold Jason’s hand so, so bad. Or loop his arm through his. Brush up comfortably against him. Anything like that. But neither of them dare to do that shit in public and they had to explain why that was to Gabe a long, long time ago. 

He can’t help but feel safer with Jason around. Fuckers around here don’t stare as much with him, intimidated in the right way by a bigger, older white man looking happy and comfortable in the presence of two Latinos. No one comes up to ask him a dumbass question. Not with Jason around, no. 

And there’s no lie about Jason carrying two plastic firearms on him somewhere. 

Nope, not a lie in sight. 

Jason’s voice snaps him back to attention. “Alright, sunny sunshine. Think you made a good browse of everything now? Know what you want?” 

“Kee-hah-ha! Yeah! Yeah, I know now!” 

“Great, kiddo!” Jason turns to his boyfriend, bright green eyes sparkling like champagne. “How ‘bout big brother over here? Does he know what he wants?” 

Gabe joins Jason in looking at his older brother. Their smiles are wide and open, their eyes kind and loving. And it’s then that it hits Robbie, not for the first time…

This is his family. 

His little brother and his boyfriend. His brother that’s taken to his boyfriend like a baby duck and his boyfriend that’s declared his brother to be his baby too. They’re an…odd family, not even what white right wing religious nuts would consider a family, hell. But they’re here and they have each other. They are a family, no matter what outsiders that know jack shit say. He looks into both their faces and his heart swells with so much love and pride that he fears it’ll burst right out of his chest. And he’s just as comfortable as if he was back at home, on the other side of town. 

So Robbie smiles and nods slightly. “Yeah, I think I know what I want now.” 

Their faces brighten even more and Robbie’s heart soars. 

They spend the whole afternoon and well into the evening in Build-A-Bear. They’re fucking insatiable, infected with Gabe’s excited selecting and chatter. It’s a damn wonderful mess, the way they just go wild at all the selections. When they can’t quite find what they’re looking for, they beg one of the salespersons to see if they have it in the back and, half the time, they’re lucky. Their voices interweave and overlap, sending warmth through each of their souls in the larger din of the crowded store. 

What about Twilight instead of Applejack? Or these sunglasses on this teddy bear? Ohh! They got some sai to go with this Raphael. How about that purple whale with a tutu? 

The possibilities feel endless as the hours and their fun pass by in a sunny blur. It’s only the pressing need for lunch (or, well, dinner by this time) and a good chair that encourages them to wrap it up.

Gabe ends up making four new friends for himself. A TMNT Donatello with a green hoodie bearing the TMNT logo on it; a Rainbow Dash with a fluffy pink tutu and a fairy wand; a Spiderman teddy bear with a two-piece pajama set bearing the Spiderman logo; and a Falcon Bear with a Captain America uniform and a mini Bucky Bear. 

Jason ends up making two new friends for himself. A Fluttershy with a camouflage dress and a lollipop and a Wonder Woman bear with a one-piece pajama set bearing the Wonder Woman logo. 

Robbie ends up making two new friends for himself as well. A pink Hello Kitty with an overall set bearing the Superman logo and an alligator with a blue wedding dress and a little bouquet of flowers. 

They speak excitedly about their findings and Robbie feels like a damn little kid all over again. If the sparkles in Jason’s eyes are anything to go by, he feels the same way. And Gabe is just exuding all the sunshine in the world from between them. 

When it’s finally time to ring up their purchases, Robbie’s left eye twitches at the cost. Holy shit, if he made that kind of money in two weeks… 

But Jason’s got it. Doesn’t even flinch as he rolls out the twenties and animatedly chatters with Gabe. Hell, even tells the cashier to keep the change. Robbie knows he’s gonna kiss this man senseless when they get home. Won’t even give a damn if Gabe’s in the room and Gabe giggles about “Robbie and Jason kissing in a tree…”

Nope. Robbie’s kissing him later. 

As they get into Jason’s car, Robbie asks, “Gabe, whaddayou want to eat, little man?” 

Gabe is happy as ever, clutching his new Falcon Bear. “Oh! Can we go to the Leroy’s Bar & Grill? I wanna eat a chili dog!” 

Jason winks at Robbie and clicks his seatbelt into place. “We sure can, kid! Chilidogs, huh? Knew I could teach you some good taste!” 

Robbie playfully rolls his eyes. 

“Yeah! Haha! Thanks again, Jay. I really, really love this. I really, really do!” Gabe hugs his Falcon bear tightly to his chest, gazing at both of the older males in love and adoration. 

Jason gets that look on his face, that look that says he’d turn the whole world upside for them. His voice is quieter as he carefully pulls out of the crowded parking lot. “Aww, you don’t have to thank me, sunshine. Nothin’ that you don’t deserve, you hear me?” 

Robbie reaches over to gently squeeze Jason’s muscular thigh. His warm brown eyes are simmering with love and appreciation. “Yeah, we know that. But…thank you. A lot.” 

Jason smiles as they wait behind four other cars to get onto the main road and head over to dinner. Robbie takes a chance and leans over to capture those pink lips with his. His boyfriend groans quietly into his mouth as they kiss for all of ten seconds before it’s time to move up. 

Gabe cradles his Falcon bear even closer and giggles.


End file.
